Living Metal
by Dragon.Of.Chaos97
Summary: He was thought dead. He was a figure of legend. The dragon that disappeared in a green light. But he's not dead, and when he returns he gains abilities of unimaginable power. His name is Taze the necron dragon and this is his story.
1. Chapter 1

**Boo. .Chaos97 here. Yes I'm rewriting this, and yes it's possible to have a dragon made out of living metal. Courtesy of Honsou of the Iron Warriors and Terminator 2: Judgement day**

Living Metal Chapter 1: Returning Home.

_"Relic escape. Relic on sub-level B3. Apprehend at once." _A small creature ran through the dark corridors of the tomb ship: _The Ghost of Entropy_, unsure of where it was going, but not really caring. It stopped and let out a small breath. _'There's got to be a way out, somewhere.' _The comm-link, which the small creature had hacked into earlier on broke out in a storm of mechanized voices.

_"Damage report; hull breaches on decks H5, K7, S2 and sub-level B3."  
_

_'Wait, what? Didn't the thing say_ I _was on sub-level B3?_' The ship shook uncontrollably and the small creature was thrown off balance. An explosion of sparks blasted him through a wall and lighting up the area, resulting in the dragon being brought into view.

Its scales were a striking sapphire colour with a silver underbelly which looked more like steel plating than underbelly scales, on its forehead was the symbol of Nihilakh dynasty in gold. Its eyes were a striking green that glowed slightly in the dim light. It stood on four legs with claws that were made of a more solid version of the metal it was made of; Necrodermis. The creature's figure was lithe, however he had several hidden cords of muscle mass hidden by the blue lustre of his scales. His wings were massive, too big for a dragon his age, not to mention the black wing membranes periodically pulsed then faded green again every second, bathing the area in a eerie green glow that faded away the next second. He had six silver horns, two of which came out from under his chin like a pair of serrated tusks, the other two were the same shape, one pair started from the back of his head and curled up so the it would be efficient for goring foes, the other two started from the sides of his head and curled up like their larger cousins. His tail blade was a massive blade in the shape of the warscythes that the guards carry with them them.

The wall he went through sealed itself up, the damage flowing shut like water. _'Okay, that thing that can take me away from this place is close.' _The creature stepped cautiously into a massive cylinder-like room. A massive image of a hooded skeleton flickered into view.

_"Oh, little one, this is pointless. How do you expect to fight your way through an entire tomb ship? I promise you this you _parasite_; when I deliver you to lord Trazyn, I will see that you suffer!" _The image flickered away and numerous skeletons stamped into the room. The Necrodermis construct knew better than to engage them and threw himself through a wall. The small creature breathed a sigh of relief as he saw what he was looking for; a teleporter. As he stalked up to it the image flickered beside his head. _"We should never have encountered your species, dragon. Yes that's what you are, but not anymore, you are _our_ child now. A child of the Necrons." _The dragon ignored him and stepped into the pod and used his control of the ships mechanisms he activated the teleport program. The necron on the screen hissed, _"You fool, you utter fool. I will find you... Taze." _

00000000

In the valley of Avalar it was fairly peaceful. For three years the armies of the deceased Dark Master have been forced into a permanent rout, and only small tribes of grublins could be seen. Near one of these territories an odd green orb materialized. It hung in the air for a split second before expanding in a flash of green-white light. After the flash there was a small charred crater in the ground. In it was the dragon. It scrambled out the crater and sighed, taking in a lungful of clean air before opening his eyes and taking a look at his surroundings.

'_Where am I?' _The dragon looked around. _'Hmm, there must be a settlement of some sort, where I can get some answers.' _The dragon stalked away until he sensed a figure behind him, the dragon turned and saw an odd creature with a stone axe raised high. "Oh." he said before the axe impacted his head. _Clang! _The grublin (somehow the name echoed in the dragon's mind) looked at its axe in confusion. "Was that meant to happen?" the grublin shook its head and made a noise akin to an 'uh-uh'. "You know… for my own amusement you can have another go, but if you fail I get to hit you back." The little green creature nodded and placed the axe on the dragon's head before raising it slowly for a carefully controlled attack.

_Clang! _"My turn," _Slash! _The grublin's head went one way, its body the other way. "Idiot." Taze muttered as he turned away from the dead grublin. _'Now then, I need to find a settlement, and… I have a name… what was it again?'_

_"You fool, you utter fool. I will find you__… Taze." _

"Taze… yes." Taze looked around as a series of howls rung through the valley. "I better go… it's not safe here." With that the dragon took flight with his massive pulsing wings. Taze panned his head around in an attempt to see in the dark. _'Damn it… I can't see a freaking thing.' _He mentally cursed. Then his vision flashed. "HOLY SHIT!" Taze jerked and, despite his massive wings and gravity repulsors he crashed headlong into the ground. His vision had changed to an odd smear of blues and greens.

**Thermal vision online.**

'_Thermal vision, what is this?' _

**Heat signature detector. Living creatures generate heat and will be orange, red, yellow or white. Background will be blue, green or black. **

'_Err, alright.' _With his new thermal vision Taze took flight again. _'So can I switch this thing on and off?' _The thermal vision disappeared and his sight was bathed in darkness once more. Chuckling he activated the thermal vision again and resumed his search for civilisation. After a while of searching, occasionally circling areas of interest he found several heat signatures ahead of him, in a massive stone building that seemed to be suspended in the air.

**Detecting anti-gravity magic. **

'_There are other creatures in that building, maybe they'll help me.' _He landed on some sort of landing pad that was connected to the temple. Looking around, Taze noted that the building was in poor condition. "What a dump." He said out loud, unaware of the small glowing light watching him. "This place is falling apart, who'd want to live in a piece of junk like this?"

"The guardians for a start." Taze whirled around and a beam of green energy erupted from his maw, melting a hole through the wall. Taze stared in shock at the massive hole he made as a small golden light fled inside, screaming his head off.

'_Holy crap, what was that?'_

**Gauss beam, low level power. Weapon systems charging; Gauss, tesla and particle weapons online. Voidblades and warscythe ready.**

"Voidblades and warscythe? I like the sound of that." At which point did a small rod pop out of his wing membrane. Curious, Taze picked it up. Suddenly the rod extends to a length of four feet and a massive blade that glowed with green power similar to his tail blade springs out at the top with a small semi-circle with a cutting edge at the pommel of the staff. Taze swung the blade around a few times with commendable skill despite he had no thumbs. The warscythe made and odd humming sound as Taze sliced the air, _shuum, shuum, shuum._ "Okay, I'm guessing that's the warscythe, so what about the voidblades?" Immediately the scythe turned into a silvery liquid and flowed into Taze's paws, they changed shape and formed into shield-like blades. They were shaped like diamonds and glowed with emerald energy just as the warscythe did. Taze sliced left and right with his twin blades, they were lighter and faster than the scythe. "Okay so voidblades are light and fast duel wielding weapons and the warscythe is a heavy hitting weapon, I better keep that in mind." Taze retracted his blades but kept his… other weapons ready to fire. _'Time to explore.' _

00000000

Sparx fled through the temple's corridors until… _splat! _

"Sparx!" Terrene glared at the small dragonfly. Terrene was a well built and curved dragoness. Her deep green scales and brown underbelly marked her as Terrador's granddaughter. Her sapphire eyes glinted slightly, reflecting the torches that lined the halls. Terrene had a tail blade in the shape of a spiked mace that had a reputation that was as fearsome as it looked, it lashed the floor with ferocity. Here limbs were solid and muscular, improving her shockingly good looks and her horns twisted down to her ear frills like a ram's would. However for all her apparent sweet-girl look, Terrene is the ultimate tomboy, anyone who flirted with her would get a fist in the face, unless she liked them of course. Sparx flitted up to her face, dusting himself off and pointed down the corridor.

"Crazy dragon with glowing wings down there on the landing pad." He gasped before flying top speed down the corridor.

'_Okay, I know it doesn't take much to scare ol' Pixie Boy, but…' _She stalked down the corridor. _'This dragon on the landing pad, I gotta see this.' _She turned the corner…

And bumped into another dragon. "Hey watch it pa—"then she saw who she bumped into, she glanced at the dragon's wings. Both dragons leaped backwards, Terrene stepped into a battle stance and the stranger seemed to create a massive halberd out of liquid silver or something. The dragon stared at Terrene with controlled aggression.

"Your name?" he said without taking his emerald green eyes off Terrene's sapphire blue.

"Terrene, and you are?" The dragon said nothing at first for a while and Terrene was about to ask again until, "Taze, Taze the dragon at your service." Taze bowed slightly while keeping his halberd at the ready. "I need help." Terrene pointed at the halberd. "Put down the pokey stick and we'll talk in the morning." The halberd dissolved and melted back into the dragon who scowled slightly. "It's called a warscythe."

"Yeah, whatever." Taze glared at the earth dragoness but said nothing. "Look, my granddad is a guardian and he's quite nice so he'll help." Taze glanced at Terrene. "I'm guessing a guardian is someone important." Terrene scoffed. "You been living in a rock or something matey?" Taze glared at the smaller dragoness, then softened to Terrene's surprise. "I guess you have a right to be incredulous, I haven't explained myself properly, the only knowledge I have of this world and myself is my name and yours." Terrene gaped at the tall dragon beside her.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Taze chuckled. "Don't be, it's alright, in all honesty I don't care at the moment. But may I ask one thing?"

"Sure. I'm happy to help a dragon in need." Terrene smiled at the dragon whose eyes began to droop.

"Is there a place where I can sleep?" Terrene nodded and beckoned over to the door next to the door that led to her room. "That one's empty, so just go in and crash." Taze smiled, nodded his thanks and went into said room. Taze smiled as he realized that he still had his thermal vision on and switched it off. The darkness was enough to send him into overdrive. He barely made it onto the pillows before he was asleep.

**Wooo! A necron dragon that's like the dude from terminator 2! The reason I'm rewriting this is that the last one was done out of spur of the moment. I'm planning this a bit more carefully.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm back, thought I was dead did you, why I oughta… explain why Taze can sleep and eat. Taze needs to recharge every now and again eh? Plus it helps his mental health. He eats and drinks because he can convert the energy from the food and drink into power. **

Living Metal Chapter 2: Awkward Encounters

**Balancing auditory sensors, optics online… systems diagnostic running… all systems functional.**

Taze groaned as he got up, noticing the light coming through the window. _'Wow, I must have slept in. Damn I must've been tired.' _He thought with a small smirk on his features. Taze stared around the room. There was a wooden table, made of rosemary and around five feet in length and a foot in width. Taze panned his head to the other end of the room. There was a massive wardrobe which the lithe dragon walked up to. Upon opening the wardrobe he saw a few extra cushions and a blanket. _'I suppose that will be useful, perhaps I'll actually use the blanket next time.' _Taze turned to the door, he could see a small speck of light underneath it. Curious, Taze strode over to the door and opened it, momentarily blinded by a small golden light. "Urgh. Not good when you just woke up." He hissed in his deep voice. The golden light growled at Taze and spoke. "You deserve everything you get." Taze glared at the small light and growled. The small light backed away and Taze could see limbs in there. Taze said nothing, because it felt right not to. _'Don't trust him.' _said a voice in his head. Taze looked to his left and right and the small golden light flitted away.

"This way, oh murderer." Taze rolled his eyes, completely confused by what the small creature was saying. Taze padded down the corridor following the light from around a pawstep away. "So where'd you come from?"

No answer, "Your name's Taze right?" Taze's eyes flickered over to the small light briefly, the movement indicating his notice was almost imperceptible. "I'm Sparx." said the small light. Taze paused, only to yawn, at which point did Sparx get angry and berate him all the way down to the location that Taze wasn't so sure as of yet. Sparx was hurling all sorts of obscene curses at the Necrodermis dragon which would have made him blink if he was listening.

'_This place… it seems familiar... but what is it about this place that makes me so excited?' _dismissing this as some trick of his imagination Taze stopped at a massive set of double doors and before Sparx could knock, shoved the door open and went in.

He walked into a massive circular room, looking around and noticing several cracks in the walls. _'Yikes, this place took a beating.' _His green-eyed gaze settled on the main occupants of the room. A massive green dragon with a brown underbelly, Terrene's granddad he guessed. Then there was an ice blue dragon with spikes resembling icicles on his shoulders and wing joints. And ice blue eyes that glinted dangerously, Taze returned the glare with an impassive glance before the sapphire dragon set his gaze upon the golden yellow dragon who stared with fascination at Taze's wings. Taze gave him a 'what are you looking at?' glare which caused the yellow dragon to look away, mumbling a series of long words under his breath. The massive green dragon stood up on massive trunk like limbs.

"Are you Taze?" Taze nodded once at the massive dragon. "I am Terrador, guardian of earth, this is Cyril, guardian of ice and this is Volteer, guardian of electricity." He gestured to the respective dragons as he spoke. Taze grunted in response and Terrador seemed quite surprised for a moment. Taze sat his rump down and continued to stare at the guardian.

"I heard from your granddaughter that you can help me." Terrador raised an eye ridge. "Granddaughter? Terrene!" Terrene grinned from the far side of the room and waved at Taze with a nod. Taze smiled briefly and nodded back before turning his gaze back to Terrador.

"I'll rephrase that, I heard from your _daughter _that you can help me." Terrador made an approving nod but Cyril looked as though he was going to explode. Taze glanced at him then back to Terrador.

"Yes young dragon, standing by while a dragon needs assistance is wrong and I don't really do wrong so I will gladly help."

"Then would you kindly point the way to a settlement?" The room went silent. Terrene was the first to speak. "What, you mean you're leaving?" Taze nodded. "Why?" Taze glared around the room as though daring the ceiling to fall on top of him.

"Haven't you noticed that this building is in a state of disrepair? It's falling apart and I don't want to be around when it does." Cyril blew his top, "Why you insolent little hatchling, how dare you act so brazen in front of us?! You should apologize right now!" Taze raised an eye ridge.

"Don't yell at me for stating a few facts, this place needs to be repaired. That's all I'm saying, but unless you don't, I'm outta here." Cyril growled but Volteer cut him off. "Cyril, calm down, it's only because your ancestors took part in overseeing the construction of the temple that you're angry anyway." Cyril turned around and soon the two began to exchange insults. Terrador sighed and let out a mighty roar that startled even cold, collected Taze.

But the two wouldn't stop arguing. Terrador was about to use more direct action but a massive green beam seared past him and between Volteer and Cyril's heads. All eyes turned to Taze who wasn't even fazed.

"You done?" he said with a hint of menace in his voice. The guardians nodded quickly, "Good, because I nearly fired another shot and I had no intention of missing." Volteer glanced to the side and saw that the emerald beam melted right through the wall and daylight could be seen, despite there being several walls between this room and outside. The electric guardian gulped. Terrador gaped at the small dragon.

"What in the name of the Ancestors was that?" Taze chuckled and said, "That was a gauss beam. Trust me, I've got nastier stuff ready for use so I wouldn't annoy me if I were you." he didn't know if that was true or not but he might as well gamble. To his surprise Terrador smiled.

"Prove it."

00000000

Taze stood in a massive circular room that was held up by eight massive pillars. Apart from the pillars there wasn't much else except for the intricate carving on the floor on the outline of the room, also a massive circle. Terrador and Terrene stood at the edge of the carving ring. Terrador had to raise his voice in order for Taze to hear, "You will be assaulted by numerous foes, there will be five waves and the difficulty will increase with every wave, understood?" Taze nodded.

"Why am I doing this?" he said under his breath as the first dummies popped up.

**Weapon systems online. **

Three dummies burst out of the ground; one was armed with a massive wooden replica of a two-headed axe, another with a wooden club and another with a crossbow. They were all made of leather and straw making Taze wonder if they had any heat signatures. He didn't have time to wonder as three more dummies also popped up; all were duel wielding short swords. The massive axe dummy charged first and smashed its weapon into the ground where Taze used to be. Taze slammed a paw down onto the haft and shattered it completely. The dummy only had a few seconds to stare at its broken weapon before Taze sliced its head off with a well aimed tail blade attack. The crossbow dummy fired but its aim left much to be desired and it struck one of the duel wielders in the head. The other two came from each side, one swung both of its blades down at Taze, while the other lunged with its right. Taze grabbed the lunging dummy and used him as a shield against the other guy. One sharp shove later and both dummies were on the floor, one of which was mangled from the mishap. Taze was caught unawares from behind by the club user and was somewhat dazed by the attack. The dummy tried another swing but found that its arm was 'mysteriously' removed by a certain dragon's claw. Taze whirled around and pounded his head into the dummy's head, and it crumpled without a sound.

_Ptshwng! Phewoo! _

Taze's paw snatched out and grabbed the arrow that was a few inches from piercing his face. The Necrodermis dragon let out a derisive snort and tossed the arrow back like a dart. The dummy, like the others, fell soundlessly.

All of this happened in the space of ten seconds. Terrador and Terrene stared, mouths agape at the dragon. Terrador regained his composure and sent the next wave. The dummies were slightly larger and had the same weaponry as before and the same amount only a massive troll was with them this time. Taze decided to use his powers. He fired a discharge of particle energy at the troll which was blasted back with a gigantic hole in its chest. Even Taze was slightly dumbstruck.

'_Wow.' _He made an impressed whistle before the other dummies charged in. _'Okay, these dummies are stronger than the last ones, and faster too. I need to be quick.' _Taze dived between two of the dummies and spread his wings out, knocking both of them over. Taze whirled around and ripped one of the dummies' legs off, though he was actually intending to pull it in. _'How strong am I? The others certainly seem surprised.' _That was true, Terrador and Terrene balked at Taze's unnatural strength. _'Somehow I'm a lot stronger than the average dragon.' _thought Taze as he barely ducked past a massive battleaxe. _'But I'm a bit slow. I suppose that's a balance, I wonder how much I can take damage-wise.' _With this thought in mind he didn't do anything to block one dummy's club. Taze didn't even flinch, not even when the dummy whacked him on the head ten times before realizing that it was doing nothing. "Rubbish, here's how you do it." Taze smashed his claw straight through the dummy and ripped out a lump of leather which he assumed would be its heart. The dummy slumped over and Taze went about slaying dummies, relying on his strength and endurance more than his speed. On the final wave, he was surrounded by three trolls and five massive elite grublins. _'Some sneaky thought is required here.' _Taze came up with the solution and summoned his warscythe, he faintly heard Terrene saying, "Told you he'd use it." And whirled around a full three hundred and sixty degrees, the sudden attack made all of the dummies back away and grant Taze some breathing space. The dummies advanced slowly, eyeing the massive weapon that Taze held in his paws. The first troll went down with a gauss beam in the head, vaporizing it instantly. Two of the elite grublins saw their chance and charged.

The first one died when Taze slammed the pommel into its groin, he spun around and sliced the dummy clean in half. The second dummy hacked at Taze's flank; Taze didn't see the wound and honestly didn't care about it, he grabbed the sword and wrenched it out with a grunt of pain. The grublin died a second later with the massive warscythe in its stomach. Taze sighed as the trolls closed in and retracted his warscythe. His voidblades snapped out and he dodged past one trolls hammer like fist and sliced his blade through its leg. It went onto its hands and knees with a snarl and was instantly decapitated. The other troll backed away and allowed the grublins to move in. Taze decided for a change in tactics.

**Advised attack protocol; Tesla weapon superlative at multiple contact elimination.**

Taze opened his mouth and several green bolts of lightning flew from his maw. The bolts tore through the grublins and fried them instantly. But it didn't stop there, the bolts continued and they struck the troll. The troll roared in surprise and rage as the bolts struck it but it refused to fall although Taze could tell that it was severely weakened. The troll lurched forward with a bellow. Taze figured now was the time for his coup de grace. He feinted left and as the troll lashed out the wrong way Taze spun and sliced through one of its legs, the troll fell and Taze was on its back. He stabbed frantically at the troll but it wouldn't die. Taze snarled and went further up the trolls back and proceeded to stab its head. The head was virtually nonexistent by the time Taze was done. Taze jumped from the troll as it disintegrated into nothing. Terrador didn't know what to do but he was snapped from his reverie by Terrene, who slowly began to clap. Terrador chuckled at her daughter. Terrene respected those who knew how to handle themselves in a fight and if she clapped then he should to. The sound of two pairs of paws clapping against each other echoes around the training hall. Terrador lumbered up to Taze who retracted his voidblades and smiled at the smaller dragon.

"Well, I have no idea what any of those elemental attacks were but you certainly prove yourself a good fighter." Taze smiled and inspected the sword wound on his flank, no wound on his left, probably on the right. He checked his other flank and found no imperfection in his sapphire scales.

"What the hell?" Terrador glanced at Taze's once wounded flank.

"I saw a grublin hit you with its sword." Taze nodded and thought to himself. _'The wound is gone… what does that mean? Maybe I wasn't hit… no, the others saw me get that sword in the ribs, I wonder.' _He extended his foreleg and positioned his claw over his wrist. _'This is gonna hurt.' _Taze stabbed his claw into his own wrist. Terrador's eyes went wide and was about to rebuke Taze for his action until he saw what came out of Taze's open wrist.

_Silver_ blood. The two gaped at the wound before the silver blood did something odd; it paused for a moment before flowing back into Taze's wound, the blood then welled up and formed a layer over Taze's cut. The blood seemed to harden then slowly it faded into a blue colour. Taze let his foreleg drop. _'What was that?'_

**Necrodermis: self regenerating semi-sentient metal, the material that formed you.**

"Necrodermis…" Terrador glanced at the smaller dragon. "What was that?" Taze looked purposefully away from the earth guardian. "It's what I am. I don't know how I became this, I don't remember much and I don't think I want to know how I became this." Terrador tilted his head back.

"Hmm, I think I now what happened to you Taze." Taze looked up; worry and hope glimmered in his eyes. "Not directly though you are quite a legendary figure, the dragon that disappeared in a green light." Taze furrowed his brow. Green light, he remembered that, that and… something else… pain? There was something like that then blackness and then… he was running away from the monsters.

And… and… there was something else, but Taze couldn't figure it out. Terrador placed a massive paw on Taze's shoulder, nearly covering it entirely. "Come, we must see what happened to you." Taze became intrigued.

"How will you find out, you want me to tell you?" Terrador smiled slightly. "No, we will use the pool of visions."

**And how will that turn out? R&R please…**


	3. Chapter 3

**Another chapter ready to be read. Here we go.**

Living Metal Chapter 3; Trouble

Taze soon found himself in the main chamber again where he had first met the Guardians. He glanced at the hole he had made earlier and sniggered. Terrador beckoned him over to a small pool filled with some sort of green liquid.

**Scanning… Hallucination inducing liquid… Other qualities detected; Mind infiltration and view of other sectors.**

"Taze, this pool—"

"Will allow you to read my mind and thus my memories." finished Taze. Terrador looked at him with confusion. "I'll explain after. But I want this over with; my memory is brief and unpleasant."Terrador glanced uneasily at the small dragon beside him as the pool began to swirl. However fate didn't seem to want the others to see Taze's memories and hence, intervened.

"Guys, guys!" screamed Sparx as he flew through the hole in the wall. "Good idea with the hole by the way." Taze smiled and decided to inform him that he made that hole later. "Anyway… bad news; while… while the initiates were training we were… ambushed by grublins." Cyril jumped up.

"What?" Sparx nodded and caught his breath. "Yeah, they were wearing this weird crystal armour, black crystals, not even Spyro and Cynder stood a chance!" Taze had no idea who Spyro or Cynder were but appeared intrigued. "Excuse me." He said quietly, but his voice was deep enough to carry around the room. "What are black crystals and what is their function?" Volteer turned to the Necrodermis dragon and said quickly, "Black crystals absorb elemental energy from dragons and hence their strength. If the grublins are armed and armoured with black crystals then we need to find Hunter and ask for his assistance."

Terrador nodded. "Yes, it seems like the safest option for any forces really. But black crystal is a hard type of gem."

"But we must safve Spyro, Cynder and the initiates!" Terrador sighed. "Prowlus is going to give us hell for this. It seems we're in agreement then. Cyril, Volteer you find Hunter. Terrene you take Taze and…" He trailed off as he gazed at all of the inhabitants of the room.

Bar one. "Where's Taze?" The other dragons looked around wildly to see that the Necrodermis dragon has in fact disappeared. Terrador's gaze finally fell on the double doors, one of which was slightly open, "Oh, dear."

00000000

Taze jumped from the landing pad of the temple and flew off quickly, the gravity distorting devices in his wings allowing his 'heavy' metallic body to fly at speed. Taze knew where to go, his thermal vision detected numerous thermal flares from two thousand meters away, and strangely enough from the direction he came from last night. At least the source of the howls revealed itself. Taze landed in the foliage of the forest and crouched.

For the first time Taze cursed the fact that his wings were pulsing green but then they could be red or some other contrasting colour. He nodded to himself and stalked forward. He wondered how he would beat all those grublins. So far he seems deathless and he's a lot stronger, not to mention tougher, than any other dragon his age. Those were his advantages. His primary weakness was his lack of speed, against a fast opponent that could be a problem, particularly if there were several fast enemies that can overwhelm him. But he then he remembered his weapon systems and the fact that they'll rely on this black crystal magic. Unless he was wrong he won't be affected by said magic because he doesn't think he uses elemental energy. Taze slowly pushed a branch out of the way and saw the enemy camp.

It was a fortress, nearly. Four massive walls filled the clearing in the forest. Four gigantic pillars connected these walls; watch towers. Were it not for Taze's vantage point he wouldn't be able to see inside. There were several tents inside and even a few wooden huts surrounded by massive grublins bigger than he was. Taze guessed the high ranking warriors got the huts. Somehow that concept seemed to fit with him. He then remembered that the creatures that took him operated in the same way. Taze felt his throat—if one could call it that to be honest—clench and he suppressed a snarl of anger.

'_No, no, don't surrender yourself to anger, that'll be stupid and illogical.' _Taze's glared around the camp again. He spotted the captives easily. There were around seven of them, surrounded by massive spikes of black crystal. Two stuck out; a purple and gold dragon and a black and magenta dragon. Those must be Spyro and Cynder, though he wasn't quite sure which was which at this range. Taze sniggered. He wouldn't know if he were close up, didn't know what names meant a female or male dragon. Wait… there was another dragon. She was very small and deep crimson colour. He could faintly see her red glowing eyes from a distance, staring straight at him.

Taze blinked and the hatchling was gone. _'What the crap was that?' _he thought to himself. He shook of that thought and made his way down the slope. He decided to throw caution away and attack in a way that no sane creature will expect.

00000000

Spyro glanced nervously around the camp again, yet another plan being thrown in the bin in his mind. As far as he could tell the shifts in the guards changed every now and again but Spyro couldn't work out their timetable, perhaps he just didn't have enough time. Spyro yawned. The crystals have been pushing beyond his limits and even Cynder had fallen asleep. He couldn't think straight and that fact that he couldn't use his elements, not to mention Ember tugging at his tail didn't help much either. One grublin; Orsheg he called himself, the biggest grublin he saw and evidently the leader of this group made its way up to him. Orsheg was ugly, even for a grublin he was covered in black crystal armour that surrounded his bulky, muscular frame. His full title is Orsheg the Immortal King. Spyro had a feeling if someone had a title like that then it meant that he was almost unbeatable in combat. He should know, he had fought Orsheg in combat and was downed in seconds because of the numerous amulets on Orsheg's chest that drained his power like a damn leech. Orsheg's yellow, insect like eyes—the only visible part of his head due to his massive helmet—glared at Spyro with what the purple dragon guessed was amusement.

"Not feeling tired little whelpling? Perhaps I should give you a present." It spoke in a cracked and imperfect version of Draconic. Spyro growled at Orsheg as he produced a small necklace with a black crystal dangling from the iron chain. Spyro gasped as the small yet deadly crystal came nearer and nearer to him. He tried to back away but the chains restricted his movement. Orshek laughed until faintly, the pair heard something; rumbling. Orshek growled at Spyro and the purple dragon shook his head. "Not me." He said for good measure. Orshek grunted and turned his gaze to the origin of the noise; the gates. Orshek bellowed words in his foul language. The other grublins shrieked something back and before Spyro could breathe, several things happened.

First; he heard a high-pitched whine.

Second; after said noise the gates were suddenly blown open by a flash of green light.

Third and possibly the most strange; a small dragon no older than him stood at the demolished ruin that was once the gate. He chuckled and said in a clear voice, "Greetings. I'm here to retrieve the prisoners, if you interfere, you will be destroyed."

00000000

Terrene sprinted around the Temple at a fierce pace. Where did Taze go? Perhaps he went to his room? No, she searched there already… then there was only one place he could...

'_Oh no! He couldn't have.' _Sparx, who hade been searching with her, seemed to be thinking the same thing. "You didn't think he went…" she began but Sparx finished for her, "Went after the grublins? Is he mad?" Terrene furrowed her brow.

'_I saw what he can do, but can he fight all those grublins?' _She hoped she would find out soon.

00000000

For a few seconds the grublins were silent, the shock of the dragon's entrance—not to mention his challenge—gave them pause. That moment passed in a second and the grublins let loose a series of black crystal arrows. By that time Cynder and Flame had woken up.

"Who is that guy?" asked Flame. Spyro shrugged, "No idea, he just blasted his way in here and said that he was going to kill all of the grublins." Cynder gaped as the arrows struck the dragon.

"I don't think that'll happen." Spyro sighed and looked away. Hope being given then cruelly taken away, he wasn't surprised that the dragon would fall. He looked again and he gasped.

The dragon in question was impaled by several arrows but was still standing, not only that; he was wrenching the arrows out one by one. He was leaking out silver blood which flowed back into his body like water and soon in the space of a few seconds the dragon stood completely unmarked with a cluster of arrows he tossed unceremoniously aside. The grublins gaped and Spyro could see some of them glancing at their weapons. The dragon stared at them all, panning his head from side to side until… he chuckled.

"What else you got?" Spyro nearly smiled, he liked this guy.

The grublins gave a resounding war cry and they all charged in. The dragon smiled cruelly as a small silver rod popped out of his wing. The rod extended and a massive blade shot out of it.

The prisoners watched as the strange dragon tore through the grublin forces like a knife through butter. Spyro turned to Cynder, "Know that guy?" Cynder shook her head. By that time all of the dragons were awake and staring in shock at the killer dragon that was now smashing a grublin head first into small rock, making its brains go everywhere. The dragon turned and swung out with his halberd, eviscerating all of the grublins nearby. Still the stupid things closed in and the dragon fired a volley of green lightning from his mouth.

"I certainly didn't see that coming!" yelled Flame from behind Spyro. The purple dragon nodded in agreement and one of the crystals was shattered under an energy beam shot from the dragon. The change was immediately felt by the prisoners.

"Destroy the rest!" Cynder screamed. "If you have any sense, destroy the rest and we'll help you!" but the dragon was evidently too busy to notice the black dragoness's pleas. He got stabbed in the flank but he only seemed slightly bothered by it. He yanked out the spear and stabbed forwards with his own blade. Within a few minutes all of the grublins were dead, the last one dying by getting blasted by the same green beam that destroyed the crystal. The grublin was completely atomized. The dragon turned to Orsheg. "Your troops are dead, only you remain." Orsheg growled and drew his weapons; a pair of spiked maces made of black crystal.

"I am Orsheg, the Immortal King. I will destroy you." The dragon straightened up and his halberd melted into his paws only for a pair of diamond shaped blades to appear. He brandished them and growled. "I am Taze, the Necrodermis dragon. Release the prisoners. If you do this, I will spare your life." Orsheg laughed and got into a fighting stance with his maces. Taze scraped his blades together, kicking out green sparks of power and glared at the grublin. "So be it." The two charged at each other. At first Spyro thought Taze would dodge but Taze didn't seem to be as fast as his figure would suggest and he barrelled into Orsheg. The grublin, despite being three times bigger in terms of size and weight, was knocked over and soon the combat devolved into the fighters trying to get out on top. Eventually Orsheg pinned Taze down and was about to smash the… Necrodermis dragon's skull to pieces but evidently Taze had other ideas. He kicked up with his hind legs and sent Orsheg flying a fair distance. Spyro's eyes widened in shock.

'_Orsheg just went flying! That was like ten meters or so. This Taze seems quite strong.' _Taze got up and started flapping his wings, lifting himself into the air. Taze was at least fifty feet high until he suddenly dived as though he was diving into water; straight as a pencil with both paws held out before him. Taze spun at a fearsome pace and gained speed as he propelled himself towards Orsheg. The Immortal King growled and puffed his chest out as numerous amulets on his neck began to glow in a sick, dark colour. He was calling on the power of the dark crystals. Spyro wasn't sure—considering what he saw ever since Taze made his entrance—that such a move would affect this guy. Spyro's prediction proved to be true as Taze smashed his blade wreathed paws into Orsheg's chest. Spyro could never discern grublin facial expressions but even he could tell that Orsheg was in _great _pain. Taze angled his charge upwards and brought Orsheg up with him. Taze eventually slowed down and grabbed Orsheg's head, throwing the Immortal King to the ground. Taze landed with a dull _'thud!' _beside the prone grublin. It growled as it tried desperately to get up. Spyro mulled over the attack that Taze used, it was slow but powerful when it struck. Spyro wished the ground was a bit harder then Orsheg might be dead. Taze stalked over to the prone form of the broken grublin.

"I… am… Orsheg. The Immortal—"

"King?" asked Taze. "You really flaunt that don't you, well since you told me about yourself I'll give you some info on me, before we really see if you're immortal or not. I'm more than just a dragon, I was made by creatures that intended to use me as a weapon. But I escaped their confinement and now I'm here." Orsheg growled and spat at dragon.

"Go to hell." It snarled. Taze leaned in close until his muzzle was barely centimetres from Orsheg's face. "I already did. Now I'm back." With that Taze slammed his blade into Orsheg's face, denting the helmet. Taze repeated this attack and each time he struck a spasm went through Orsheg's body. On the third strike blood could be seen; it was an odd milky green liquid. It leaked out of the small holes that covered Orsheg's ear frills. On the fifth the helmet buckled in with a protesting squeal. The eighth strike caused the entire helmet to shatter into pieces. Two more punches and Orsheg's head caved in. Taze retracted his blade and groped around inside the head. He gave a swift tug and yanked out Orsheg's brain.

Spyro was quite close to hurling, he was used to violence but watching someone pull out a brain from a recently dead creature was more than he'd like to see. Taze glared at the brain for a minute before dropping it and proceeded to stamp on it unceremoniously. Taze looked at them with a hidden smile.

"Well, then…" he said slowly. "Let's get to the actual reason why I'm here."

**Taze is a soulless killer, well he is descended from the Necrons so what do you expect?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here we go. A few explanations finally.**

Living Metal Chapter 4; Illuminor Szeras

The bedraggled and exhausted dragons made their slow way back to the temple under Taze's watchful eye. He occasionally had to fight a few stray grublin patrols but they were easy prey. The journey was long to the dragons but to the tireless Necrodermis dragon, it wasn't too bad. He had been through much worse. The images of flashing gauss flayers and the explosions on the ship he was 'born' in were still fresh in his mind. Taze winced. He didn't want to go back; he was a free dragon, was he? Taze spied a small puddle of water and walked over to it. He saw the symbol of his creators, the emblem of the Nihilakh dynasty on his forehead and sighed.

'_I'm free, but I still have the mark of allegiance branded on me. What does that mean?'_

"_I will find you… Taze." _

"Maybe you will, but when you do, I'll be ready for you."

"You say something?" asked Spyro. Taze turned around to face the purple dragon; the two dragons had exchanged brief introductions after Orsheg's death. Taze decided not to inform the purple dragon that he had in fact assumed his name was Cynder. Taze looked at the puddle once more and sighed. "I wish I remembered my life before my…" he trailed off, trying to think of a suitable word to describe to Spyro in a way he would understand, in the end he tapped his mark. "… Rebirth." He decided to say. Spyro gave him a confused look which was noticed. "I'll explain later, right now I'll tell you this; I shouldn't exist." Spyro decided not to argue so he changed the subject.

"So…" he discovered with a frown that he couldn't figure out what would be a suitable subject for Taze to speak about without getting the silent treatment. However one of the initiates beat him to it.

A massive burly crimson dragon with golden yellow eyes stamped up to the pair. He towered over Spyro and even Taze. He had a pair horns curling up from his forehead like raptor claws in a diagonal angle facing away from each other, barely long enough for practical use. His tail spade resembled a burning flame, there were carvings on it and it glittered slightly, giving the dangerous blade a lifelike look. His underbelly and wing membranes were a striking gold. If it wasn't for the superior looking sneer that plastered his face the dragon would have been handsome.

"My name's Inferno, the pureblood heir of the Fire Kingdom. I demand that you answer my question; how did you defeat a creature which took even me down?" Spyro resisted the urge to groan, Inferno was even more proud than Cyril, 'proud' of course, being another word for 'arrogant'. Taze turned to face the bigger dragon. Spyro readied himself so he could break them up if they got into a fight.

"First of all, defeat is an understatement, I _destroyed_ Orsheg, his chances of rising are zero and the title 'Immortal King' is an utter joke. Second, I shall tell you and the others since they are so enraptured by our pleasant chat." Spyro glanced at the others and saw that all dragons had paused despite the fact that the temple was now in front of them and were watching Taze and Inferno talk. "I am the first of my kind; you may think I am a dragon, perhaps I was once but now I am different. I am made from a half sentient metal called Necrodermis. I was created in a lab as some form of experiment by creature called a Necron." Inferno looked as though he was going to snort at Taze's story. Taze didn't seem to care and continued on, "That Necron was called Illuminor Szeras."

"Illuminor Szeras?" Inferno couldn't hold himself back anymore. "What type of name is that?"

"A name belonging to a being you don't want to…" Taze made a blurting noise, startling everyone. "…with."

"What the hell was that noise you made?" asked Inferno. Taze seemed confused. "What noise?" he asked the big red.

"The noise you just made!" Taze seemed even more confused.

'_I must have sworn in Machine Code.' _Taze shrugged and continued on without answering Inferno's question. Inferno growled and attempted to tackle the smaller dragon. Taze's tail blade whipped out and struck Inferno across the face with the flat of the blade. Inferno staggered slightly and backed away. "Next time I shall use the cutting edge." Taze allowed his threat to sink in before turning around and stalking towards the temple once more. Spyro trotted up to the blue dragon.

"You didn't really answer his question, Orsheg should have drained you and all of those arrows should have killed you outright." Taze glanced at the purple dragon and explained, "Orsheg and his troops would have those effects if I had any elemental energy to drain, I don't know what the power within me is. I don't think I was meant to know. And as for the arrows, as I said, I'm made of Necrodermis, it's a semi-sentient metal that can flow like water to repair damage, in my case the… holes." Spyro chuckled and even Taze smiled slightly.

"How much do you know about yourself and how did you end up here?" Taze tilted his head back in thought. He couldn't remember being an ordinary dragon and his escapade wasn't all too clear either.

"It's a bit sketchy." was all he said. Spyro decided not to press the subject and walked over to Cynder.

"Well?" she said as a greeting. Spyro sighed and glanced at Taze who continued to lead the group with a smouldering Inferno right behind him.

"Taze is an enigma, I don't know him and I'm not entirely sure if he knows himself. He's shrouded in mystery and I'm not sure if I want to find out how he came to be." Cynder glanced uneasily at the purple dragon. "He was born like us," she said uncertainly. "Right? I mean he is an ordinary dragon, with… glowing wings and a weird symbol on his head." Spyro turned to her and she saw the most serious expression on his face.

"No Cynder, he isn't."

00000000

They arrived half an hour later, dirty, tired and grumbling from their long trek through the woods. They weren't able to fly due to the energy drain from the crystals and all were quite grumpy, except Taze, who had a slight smile on his face. Terrene appeared from a corner and paused as she saw the crowd of dragons. For a moment she didn't react until,

"You idiot!" she ran at Taze and punched him in the chest. Mechanical and highly advanced as Taze was, pain was still a sensation he could feel and he grunted. "You utter moron, what if you got killed?" Taze's smirk grew wider.

"The grublins have an advantage over normal dragons and relied solely on that, strip that away and they die like vermin." Terrene gave Taze a mighty whack over the head with her tail club. Taze now had a massive dent in the side of his head which disappeared a moment later. The Necrodermis dragon sniggered and jerked his head at the battered group behind him. "Yours?" he grinned as he got out of the way and sat down. Due to his trek and his massive fight his energy was quite drained.

**Energy levels drained to 47.574%... Recommended course of action; consume organic material and liquids.**

'_What, like food and drink you mean, I can eat?'_

**Affirmative, consumable items are reduced to molecular energy and used to power major systems; solid items; food, contains minerals and other nutrients that power major systems, liquids maintain Necrodermis' liquid state, sleeping recharges cognitive systems and maintains sanity protocols.**

Taze smiled. That attribute made him as close as he could be to an ordinary dragon. He thought to himself, _'What happens if I don't eat or drink?'_

**Failure to devour consumable items leads to solidification and system deactivation, more commonly referred to as 'death'. Failure to power down for recommended period of time will cause sanity chip to malfunction and automatic power down of all systems.**

'_Makes sense, so the Necrodermis copied the genetic data of me and my species to such a degree that it even copied the basic things the body needs, even to the point of going into what I assume would be a coma, temporary as it may be compared to actual comas. Clever indeed.' _Taze glanced at the dragons and took in their details.

He could see Inferno gloating to a smaller, reedier dragon. This dragon had deep red scales with tints of brown and a mossy green underbelly. His eyes were a dirty brown, Taze saw this as the smaller dragon looked at him, Taze could tell that the smaller dragon was not enjoying Inferno's presence. His tail blade was a bit like a club but still had the sharp edge of a blade the shape could easily be compared to that of a leaf. His wing membranes were the colour of reddening leaves in autumn.

**Scanning: multiple energy signatures detected; Fire element and life inducing energies, capable of stimulating plant matter growth and controlling their movements through neural links. **

'_A fire and plant dragon? How is that possible? Most dragons only have _one _element.' _Taze looked at the other three dragons. They stood in a tight group whispering amongst each other. One was a fairly chubby crimson dragon with a pair of golden horns that arched smoothly upwards. His golden eyes often glanced around the place as though trying to find something interesting to stare at rather than maintain eye contact. His wing membranes were an odd gold colour and his tail blade was an arrowhead of sorts.

**Scanning: Fire element energy signature detected… energy dampener detected within DNA, increased resistance to elemental attacks... inability to connect fully to element.**

'_So he can resist elemental attacks but can't use his element that well.'_

The second dragon was pitch black with a deep crimson underbelly, he was quite thin to a point that Taze thought he would snap in two if he got struck by a gust of wind. Ribs could be seen poking out and the dragon had a cluster of horns that stretched from his forehead to the back of his neck into a forest of grey spikes. His eyes were a deep marine blue and… dilated? That can't be right. The dragon winced at him and looked away. His wing membranes were a dull grey.

**Scanning: Fire element and Shadow element energy signatures detected. Eyes stuck in dilated state, risk of damage to eyes… frequent.**

'_Must be why he winced at me, I must've reflected a light of my chest.' _Taze looked down to his shining silver chest.

The final dragon was a female. She had bright pink scales and possessed a curved figure. He horns pointed away from each other and curled up before ending in sharp picks at the end. Her sapphire eyes occasionally flashed to Taze, he got the feeling he was going to get that a lot. She wore a small necklace with a ruby heart engraved in it. Her underbelly was gold and her wing membranes, like the rest of her body were pink.

**Scanning: Fire element detected, regeneration inducing powers also detected.**

'_She must be a healer of sorts then right?' _

Taze sighed and got up; he owed the Guardians a show of his past. Terrene must have left already because she was nowhere to be seen at the moment. The dragons noticed him getting up, it seems they were quite intent on his movements. Why, he had no idea. "What are you lot looking at?" The dragons turned away, exept the plant/fire one. He walked over to Taze and nodded to him.

"My name's Gaia, thanks for the rescue back there, never seen anything like it, and the look on Orsheg's face when you said you've been to hell and back, aw, man!" Taze could already tell this was the peppy type of dragon. Deciding to sate his curiosity he asked, "You have two elements, life and fire. How? Most dragons only have one." Gaia seemed quite shocked to hear this as they walked away in the direction of the Pool of Visions room.

'_Or he's just following me.'_

"Dude, do you live in a cave or something?"

"No, but does spending the last century or so as silver gloop in a test tube in outer space count?" Gaia seemed to give it some though until he nodded. "Yeah, alright, anyway, I'll explain. After Spyro managed to bring the world back together and save everyone, there was an added side affect; lots of dragons, young ones especially for some odd reason, gained a small measure of his power, therefore granting them a second element, in my case, plants. Some also gained abilities that don't really belong to an element, I know a guy who can lift things by looking at them."

"Telekinesis." grunted Taze.

"Yeah that's it, some got some really weird stuff like being able to mutate their bodies or control gravity, things like that. A new age has really begun, in a way it might be for the best, there isn't a lot of dragons around at the moment, most of them are at Warfang, and that's just _one _city."

"Funny, it's as though the elements know that the dragons are at their weakest… Isn't it said that a weakened creature is also the most dangerous? Maybe the dragons, despite their dwindling numbers, might have become the most dangerous creatures of all time." Gaia seemed a bit disturbed about Taze's musing. However the Necrodermis dragon didn't seem to care. "Times are hard, with enemies around every corner, it's a cruel world out there, it makes sense that the dragons are granted these abilities, or they'd be swallowed up and spat out." Taze's mind's eye saw the time that the Silent King agreed to the Deceiver to let his people become transformed into the soulless beings they are now.

"You fool…" he hissed.

"What?" Gaia had now moved a bit farther away from him and was eyeing him with caution.

"Nothing, just thinking about some major mistakes someone did." Taze stopped at the Guardian's room. He turned to Gaia with a serious face. "If you can keep a secret than you may pass, if you can't, leave." Gaia was intrigued and bounced slightly.

"Sure, sure I'll keep my trap shut."

"Good, if you stay quiet on the matter, I'll show you my past, short as it is, and you will learn things best not known." Gaia was even more excited and extended a paw which Taze took and shook it eagerly. Gaia waited for Taze to go in but he stayed put.

"Do you know what a Blood Oath is?" Gaia paused.

"Of course, when someone takes a Blood Oath they cannot break that oath no matter what. Why?"

"Because you just took one."

They went inside.

**I'm not telling you everything yet, keep you hanging for a bit.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Time to see into Taze's past!**

Living Metal Chapter 5; the First Success

Taze and Gaia stepped through the opened door and it shut with a _boom _behind them. Gaia shivered. "Am I the only one that finds that just _slightly _creepy?" he said with worry. Taze silently agreed with him, something was wrong with the acoustics, he made a mental note to look into that later. The two dragons realized that the room was empty. "Nobody home," moaned Gaia. "And I was all excited as well." Taze wasn't really excited about this, he was apprehensive and nervous. "Hey look." said Gaia. Taze turned and look at a note that Gaia was pointing frantically at. "I'll read it. Ahem. 'We already saw your past while you were out Taze, meeting called off.' Well that's bloody charming of them." Taze frowned and looked at the pool. Gaia stepped up beside the Necrodermis dragon and the pool flickered.

At first, nothing happened and Gaia was already getting bored, however before he could complain a metallic voice crackled, "This is Illuminor Szeras. Initiating Life Form Test, sending authorisation codes." A blurting, nonsensical noise echoed.

"What's that noise?" Gaia winced at the crackling noise. Taze glanced at him, he could understand what Szeras was saying; Szeras was speaking in Machine Code, he was playing things pretty close to the ribs.

"The test subject is stabilized, DNA insertion has an approximately seventy three point four eight six nine percent chance of success. Success will lead to my ascension to godhood, failure will be very infuriating. Commencing DNA insertion. Activate life sensors. Downloading personality protocols. Commence specimen creation." A roaring noise startled the dragons. The pool was an inky black colour signifying that Taze couldn't see anything at the time. Suddenly it flared and the pool showed the first necron Gaia ever saw. It had one red eye and a series of lines around his speaker grill. It's silver and black face glared at the Taze in the memory. It had a humanoid chest and arms but underneath that he had four spider like legs and a loincloth of some sort, he held a staff with a blade that would have been rectangular were it not for the half circle cut out, it also had an odd sphere that crackled with the same energy as Szeras' eye. "Success, finally, after centuries of toil, a success." The Taze in the Pool shivered and looked around in absolute terror. He was stuck in a bipedal position by a series of clamps that wrapped around his ankles, wings and neck. Taze looked at Szeras in horror.

"Who… where?" Szeras blurted a sentence of angry Machine Code, silencing Taze. "Transfusing more power into test subject Taze." Taze looked at Szeras and said slowly, "Taze, is that my name? It doesn't feel right."

"Silence," Szeras snapped at Taze. "You are a test subject, a prototype, nothing more." Szeras then proceeded to make a series of calculations while Taze stood there, staring blankly into the room. The room itself was fairly dark, lit only by a few slits of emerald light, there were several tools connected by wires to humming generators that mystified Gaia. Suddenly the laboratory shook and sparks flew everywhere.

"_Warning, Eldar attack, boarding party signature detected, stand by to repel boarders." _Szeras cursed and turned to a control console, slamming a green button and summoning a flickering image of another necron. This one had two legs, was powerfully built and held a massive halberd in its hand. Its emerald eyes flickered with malice and hatred at the Illuminor. Its skeletal ribcage was a deep marine blue like Taze's scales and its legs were silver like his underbelly. The same symbol that was on Taze's forehead was stamped on the necron's shoulder pad, chest and left cheek. Illuminor Szeras pointed his staff at the distorted hulk before him, "Ognabekh! The Eldar attack us, why did you not mention this?" Ognabekh snarled at Szeras, "Do not forget your place, _Cryptek,_ you will address me as _Overlord _Ognabekh. I was unaware of the impending Eldar threat, one of their prophecies must have guided them here. They outnumber us three to one, Szeras, deactivate your experiment so that we may fight!" Szeras froze, before letting loose a barrage of vulgar Machine Code.

"Deactivate Taze? Has the Destroyer Plague finally clamed you? The very purpose of this mission and my participation in _your _campaign was that I may use your ships' power to conduct my experiment!"

"Circumstances change."

"Unacceptable." The Overlord snarled. "Accept it, Cryptek, deactivate your prize so that we may fight, it works, does it not? What difference does it make that he stays dead for a few cycles?" Taze's head snapped up.

"No! I don't want to die, please, let me go!" Szeras snarled at Taze, "Silence." Taze shivered in terror and looked at anything that flashed or exploded in the room, due to the amount of a pounding the vessel was taking, Taze's head was a blur.

"_Warning containment field, deactivating." _

"No!" barked Szeras. Taze suddenly jerked and with a cry of effort ripped out of his restraints. Szeras slammed a button and a necron warrior appeared out of thin air. It aimed a long barrelled weapon with electricity arcing in the barrel with an axe head like bayonet at the tip at Taze. The Necrodermis dragon was the faster of the two and blasted the warrior to pieces with a well aimed gauss shot. Taze barrelled through the door and fought his way through numerous rooms, often running away from the metallic soldiers.

"_Relic escape. Relic on sub-level B3. Apprehend at once." _Another voice sounded soon afterwards, _"__Damage report; hull breaches on decks H5, K7, S2 and sub-level B3." _ Suddenly the ship shook and a massive explosion nearly blasted Taze out of the ship and into space but Taze was hit by another explosion and thrown into a room. Ognabekh's face flickered on one of the many screens in the room. _"Oh, little one, this is pointless. How do you expect to fight your way through an entire tomb ship? I promise you this you _parasite_; when I deliver you to lord Trazyn, I will see that you suffer!" _Ognabekh's image faded away and necron troops filed into the room. Taze hissed and smashed through one of the walls, barely dodging the deadly emerald beams shoot in his direction. Taze sighed as he saw an odd cylinder platform with a green outline outside it and another one inside the cylinder. Taze walked up to it and took his position inside the inner circle. _"We should never have encountered your species, dragon. Yes that's what you are, but not anymore, you are _our_ child now. A child of the Necrons." _Taze didn't listen and a hazy emerald mist started to form around him. _"You fool, you utter fool. I will find you… Taze."_

The Pool suddenly became still and returned to its original state. Gaia was awestruck, he had never seen these sorts of things before, to think that there were more life forms out there!

Taze however, didn't feel good at all, he didn't know that Trazyn was in on this… he was stuck in the middle of a gigantic power struggle, a struggle which would probably result in the scouring of many planets, maybe even this one.

_'And it's all my fault.' _The words formed in the Pool and Gaia looked at Taze in concern. "What is it?" he asked. Taze looked away in shame, away from his reflection, away from that accursed symbol on his head.

"It's all my fault." He said gloomily. Gaia prepared a protest but Taze went on, "It's my fault, the necrons won't stop searching for me, they'll scour planets clean of life just to find me, they know nothing of remorse, I thought it was bad with Szeras on my tail, now Trazyn's in on this as well, he'll want me for his little treasure collection. Ognabekh, Szeras, and now Trazyn, all high flyers, all have mighty resources to call upon, they'll find me, and they'll kill everybody that gets in their way.

"It's _my fault_. I should never have come here." He finished after a silence. The miserable Necrodermis dragon seemed to shrink in on himself. "Maybe if I kill myself… perhaps they'll find out and stop searching for me." Gaia suddenly cut him off by punching Taze in the cheek. Taze grunted in surprise as much as pain. He looked up to see Gaia standing over him.

"No, you won't kill yourself, you are a free dragon, just like the rest of us, you did what any other being would do; you came home, you belong here Taze, you were here once, you were born on this world and you are a denizen of this planet as much as anyone and anything. No amount of necron crap is going to stop that." Taze raised his eye ridges in surprise at this new side of Gaia. Gaia seemed to notice this and backed away. "Sorry, I have this issue with people being depressed for stupid reasons and don't say a damn thing!" for Taze was about to protest. "I also don't like bullies, which is why I hate Inferno; he's a fool as well as a spoiled brat. If I was strong enough I'd bust him up myself. But despite the fact he only has one element he is very good in a fight."

"How so? You must have some sort of advantage." Taze said in confusion as he got up. Gaia sighed and said slowly, "He was raised to be the best at everything, but he became arrogant as a result. Inferno's really good in a fight, strong, fast and almost incapable of feeling pain. The only one who can beat him is Spyro and even he is hard pressed, it's just that his elemental skill is so freaking good."

"Then I imagine the small fire dragon with the null powers in his blood might stand a chance." Taze cut in. Gaia paused and glanced at Taze as said dragon got up and opened the door, making that ominous creak again. Gai went through the door and continued again, "Null powers? What are you talking about?"

"The slightly chubby dragon with the arrowhead tail blade and two horns that arch upwards." Gaia nearly sighed and went into a solemn mood.

"Flame? No, he can't beat Inferno, he can barely use his element, as though something is blocking it." Taze let out a thoughtful hum. "You are his friend?" he asked the plant/fire dragon. Gaia shook his head.

"More than that, I'm his cousin, my dad is his dad's brother. We get along pretty well. Why do you think that Flame can beat Inferno?"

"W-what?" a small voice squeaked from behind them. Flame had been around the corner behind them when Gaia asked his question. Flame was absolutely terrified at the prospect of fighting Inferno, he had fought him before and remembered being beat down instantly. Taze turned around and voiced his observation, "You, Flame, have a null field in your blood; a sort of… energy leech. This is the second ability that you have, it grants you an advantage because the null field can be altered and recalibrated to absorb elemental attacks as well as the life force of your enemies." Flame's mouth was flapping noiselessly, he didn't know what to say to this dragon; he comes out of nowhere, kills grublins with no hesitation, gives Inferno a beat down and now he's telling Flame that he has a second ability!

"What he is trying to say is—"

I said what I said; you have a second element. The current theory of accessing your elemental power and tapping it is to search inside yourself, yes?"

Flame nodded, feeling his usually low confidence rise. "You have a slight… blockage, like the bridge that connects you to your element is gone, nothing is there?" Flame nodded again. "Focus on that in a training room when you have the time, but don't do anything rash." Flame nodded and said, "Thanks for telling me this, you saved my life Taze!" he ran of in the direction of the training room. Gaia smiled at Taze.

"Wow, I've never seen him that pepped up since… well ever. But," he suddenly grabbed Taze's shoulder and plants started growing out of the cracks and rents in the walls as Gaia's anger rose. "If you crush Flame, if you destroy whatever confidence he has, I will not hesitate to grant your wish for oblivion." Taze nodded in understanding and the two set off after Flame.

00000000

Flame sprinted past the corners and tripped over, landing snout first.

"Oww," he said flatly. "But I won't let that stop me, and I need to stop talking to myself." He said all this in the same motivated tone. He scrambled up and set off again. _'Taze said I had some sort of void in me or something, a blockage, I need to concentrate on that. It's teatime so I better get a move on.' _He ran even faster, nearly colliding into Terrene and Ember.

"Oh, hey Flame." Terrene said. "Why the big rush? Inferno's not after you again is he?" Flame shook his head and said a stream of half formed words due to his exhaustion. "What?" Flame took a gulp of air.

"No time, possible second ability, Taze told me, going to the training room now, bye!" he sprinted off again. Ember exchanged curious looks.

"He's always so cute when he gets excited." said Ember. Terrne chuckled in reply. She, along with Cynder knew that Ember had a crush on Flame and was all too aware of Flame's crush on Ember, but Ember didn't know how to ask him out without Flame fainting from nervousness. "Should we follow him?" asked Ember.

Gaia and Taze came stampeding around the corner just after Ember had uttered her sentence and stopped right in front of the girls. Gaia was panting while Taze didn't seem remotely bothered, although his wings were pulsing quicker than usual, which was probably his only sign of exertion.

"Flame went that way, let's follow him." Gaia paused. "Let's?" he asked. Ember nodded with a grin, she looked at Taze.

"Flame told me that a little birdie came along and told him a few things." Taze huffed.

"I merely said that Flame has an ability to drain energy, nothing else." Gaia rolled his eyes as the others sprinted.

"You could've said _that _instead of giving a long winded explanation about the emptiness within him." he grunted.

The finally reached the training room but Taze stopped them, upon seeing their questioning, and not a little impatient looks he said, "Don't you think that Flame might do something that could damage us? He could rip our life force out of us." Ember rolled her eyes as she moved forwards.

"Come one Taze, he won't hurt just like—huuurgh!" she had gone through the door and suddenly clutched her chest, dropping to the floor. A startled yelp emitted from within the training hall and Flame was next to Ember instantly.

"I'm sorry!" he squeaked. "I was doing something and you surprised me and—"

"Oh, calm down, you just gave me a real… jump." Ember wasn't quite sure how to describe the draining sensation she felt earlier. Flame glared at Taze for an instant before walking back into the training room. Taze followed shortly.

"May I ask what happened when you arrived?"

Flame suddenly grinned as the memory resurfaced, "Well I did as you advised so I summoned one dummy and felt for this void in me, suddenly I felt… empty, but it was good as well. The dummy came at me, I looked at it and it just dropped!" he waved his paws wildly in the air and hopped once to make his point.

"Demonstrate." Taze simply said. Flame nodded and walked over to the far side of the ring.

"This is a precaution," he had to yell because the place was so large. "I don't know if this thing is a field or it just happens to the things I focus on." The group nodded and a dummy sprung up out of a red flash. Flame let out a cleansing breath as the dummy charged, he opened his eyes and glared at the dummy, it staggered but kept on moving.

Flame cursed, he won't be humiliated again, not when he learns that he has a new power unlike any other, he. Won't. Fail!

"Fall, damn you!" he roared, sending a massive blast of the mysterious energy at the dummy, it staggered and crumpled in on itself. Flame felt the energy sustaining the dummy enter him and felt momentarily energized. He heard applause from the other end of the arena and smiled as Ember was jumping up and down.

'_She so pretty…' _he sighed. With this new power he would finally get back up, Inferno will never put him down again. Taze smiled at him and nodded.

"Anyone else hungry?" Gaia suddenly moaned. The others noticed their growling stomachs and in Taze's case, low energy levels.

"Yeah, let's get something to eat, and drink for that matter. We are gonna have a toast for you Flame, and for you Taze for changing his life!" this came from Terrene. She winked at the two and got different reactions; Flame blushed and scooted over to Gaia, Taze realized he couldn't blush so settled with blurting out an expletive in Machine Code.

"_It's nothing really." _

**It wasn't just Taze who had a first success, give it up for Flame! **


	6. Chapter 6

**We meet someone special now… ladies and gentlemen introducing…**

Living Metal Chapter 6; Tesla

In celebration of Flame's newfound power the gang; Terrene, Taze, Ember, Gaia and of course, Flame, had decided to go to a local tavern; the Dragon's Tail. The Dragon's Tail tavern was a pleasant place for travellers, also near the Temple, so was the usual place should the residents of the Temple want a treat. The inside of the tavern was spacious and lined with tables. Because it was a tavern for travellers no one had to book a place and hence going in and finding a table was easy. Taze had gone over this information again and again as he flew towards the tavern.

**Scanning… Population: 12 dragons, 24 moles and 3 cheetahs. Total population: 39. Maximum population judging by diameter of tavern; 60.**

"Will there be room?" Flame asked worriedly.

"There will be." said Taze. Terrene angled her head to look at Taze. "How can you know?" Taze laughed, "I just know."

**I know, you do not. **

'_Who are you anyway?' _

**A.I unit 3132455 Szaras, A.I unit to Taze: Necrodermis construct created by Illuminor Szeras of the Sekemtar dynasty, current property of the Nihilakh dynasty.**

_'I don't belong to the necrons, and I never will.' _

**Identification change noted, changing clearance rank, acceptable?**

_'What?' _Taze could have sworn Szaraz sighed.

**Identification change renders authority useless and unable to gain access to other necron hardware except hardware belonging to test subject Taze, Necrodermis construct created by Illuminor Szeras, formerly of the Nihilakh dynasty.**

_'I'll take my chances.' _Taze thought moodily back, realizing that Szaras is probably going to be _very _annoying.

"Something troubling you?" asked Ember. She had noticed Taze's miffed expression. Taze shook his head and replied, "Just a few technical difficulties." Taze could sense Szaras' displeasure and smiled. "Oh look, we're here!" Taze grinned as they landed next to the door. They had eaten at the Temple but all of them fancied a special drink so here they came. Taze realized that some people were missing, "Where are Spyro and Cynder?" Terrene chuckled.

"Oh, they're probably training. Those two have a lot to catch up on, a lot of missed education." As they passed through the door some dragons glanced at them before returning to their drinks. Some were particularly interested by Taze's wings, making the Necrodermis dragon uncomfortable. Terrene noticed this and hissed angrily at the staring dragons, causing them to turn away. Terrene winked at Taze who noted that she was doing that a lot recently, specifically to him. They sat down and Terrene offered to get some drinks.

"She likes you." Gaia sniggered at Taze. Taze glanced at Terrene who was talking to the barman, he couldn't help but stare at her curved form. "And you like her…" Gaia finished in a playful voice and a slight chuckle. Taze blurted a growl of Machine Code but that only succeeded in making Gaia laugh harder. Flame sniggered but yelped as Taze glared at him.

"I have a Null and I'm not afraid to use it." He whimpered from behind Ember's back. Taze snorted and Terrene came back, expertly balancing two massive trays, one had two drinks while the other had three and Taze was momentarily impressed by Terrene's strength.

"Okay, Pomegranate juice for Ember, a light beer for Flame and two medium beers for Taze and Gaia." Taze looked at Terrene's jug and could have sworn the liquid within it was steaming.

Terrene, what are you drinking?" he asked, the caution in his tone was obvious Terrene chuckled and looked hungrily at her jug as she sat down next to Taze, drawing a snigger from Gaia which, thankfully, she didn't notice.

"This? This is the Drake's Destruction, the drink designed to knock the ass off an earth dragon made of concrete." Taze didn't need Szaras to tell that the drink that had such an unnerving name would undoubtedly get even hard-as-nails Terrene drunk. If what Gaia said was true and what he knew about alcohol and its intoxicating effects he should put a stop to this before something embarrassing happened.

"Terrene, I don't think you should drink that; we're here to celebrate, not start a binge drinking competition. There is a fine line between these two activities." Terrene had taken a sip, starting the very short journey to getting intoxicated.

"No there isn't. What makes you think that?" she was already slurring slightly. Just how strong is that drink? Taze turned and replied in a more insistent tone, "There is; a party means having fun with friends and celebrating something, binge drinking on the other hand results in intoxication, doing stupid things and regretting it in the morning with a headache and barely remembering it, are you willing to risk that?" Another sip and a hiccup told Taze all he needed to know. Taze made a move to get away from Terrene but Gaia wouldn't budge. "Little help?" he asked timidly. Gaia arched a brow at him and took a sip.

"Taze the almighty Necrodermis dragon, vanquisher of the Immortal King Orsheg and his grublin army, scared stiff by the charms of a totally sloshed female." Taze was beginning to panic and was shoved back to Terrene.

"Oh hey Taze, how are you?" she was completely drunk and Taze needed to get out of there. "You look pretty darn cute when you're scared. I should jump out and shout… boo, more often." Taze yanked the drink out of Terrene's paws, ignoring her shouts of protest. "You've had too much to drink," he said while holding her back with his other paw. "You're acting like an idiot, and I have a mind to pour coffee down your throat." Terrene's eyes widened at the threat before the same light of drunken mischief entered them again.

"Okay," she said, seemingly conceding. "But… I dare you... yes, I dare you to drink the entire thing and stay sober, if—hic!—you do that, then you can drown me with coffee, but if you get tipsy we're gonna have a lot of fun together!" her loud yelling was attracting stairs and Taze eyed the still steaming jug in his paw. Finally he said, "You're on." Before sniffing the jug, he could smell several types of herb in it and wondered if this was a good idea. _'I hope I don't get drunk.' _He thought to himself. He slowly tipped the contents of the jug and the Drake's Destruction poured down his throat. It tasted surprisingly sweet, not anything bitter which in all honesty was what he was expecting. The alcohol registered in his systems and for a moment he swayed, before Szaras erased the alcohol's effects by transmuting the entire thing into energy. Such was the sheer potency of the alcohol that Taze's power levels spiked to 269.585%. "Interesting…" he murmured, making a mental note to get another Drake's Destruction next time he comes here.

"Woo, nice one!" someone called over to them from the shadows. A dragon completely covered in a brown, tattered cloak. Ember looked at him and her eyes widened. The dragon looked at her and even from the distance she could see his manic grin. Her jaw flapped noiselessly and Flame rubbed her back gently. "You okay?" he asked Ember.

"Something's wrong, he shouldn't be alive; I can sense if there is any form of damage on someone's body, broken bones, internal bleeding, things like that. There is _nothing _in that guy that should keep him alive."

"And yet there he is. Having a conversation with… himself." Said Gaia, for the dragon was talking aloud, but it was as though everyone was hearing half of the conversation, "What do you mean? The dude with the glowing wings? What's so weird about him?" Taze stood up and stalked over to the mysterious dragon. Szaras scanned him.

**Technology detected; Primitive planetary technology.**

'_Hmm, he's like me in a way then, this will be interesting.' _Meanwhile the dragon eyed him, still wearing that grin. Suddenly it faltered. "What do you mean, 'don't know what he is', he looks like a dragon to me! What's different?" Taze stopped in front of the lounging dragon and they stared at each other, Taze noted that an odd red light glowed where he assumed the dragon's left eye; a servo-eye of sorts. For a moment Taze recalled Szeras' gloating face and his massive red eye.

"What's under the hood?" he said. The dragon smiled and said, "Tell you what, we'll make a deal; you take my hood off and I'll rip your arm off because I don't like being pried." The grin was still on his face as he spoke and Taze realized this dragon was totally crazy. The entire tavern had gone quiet, everyone was now watching the confrontation between the dragons. Slowly, a smirk appeared on Taze's face.

"As you wish." He said before reaching up and taking the hood off. Several dragons screamed and some even fainted. Half of the dragon's face was covered in metal, with a red eye lens replacing his left eye. Suddenly the half metal dragon reached up with a paw that, Taze noted with amusement, was metallic.

"The name's Tesla." The dragon said before pulling Taze's arm off with a yank. Taze hissed in pain as the arm bounced slightly on the floor but showed no other form of discomfort. Many dragons had left the tavern, horrified at they had seen. Taze glared at the arm and suddenly it dissolved into a silvery liquid before sinking into his flesh. Slowly, a small tentacle of Necrodermis formed around Taze's stump and in a few scant seconds, his foreleg had grown back.

"Charmed," he said. "My name's Taze. You're A.I can stop screaming now." for Szaras had established a neural link with Tesla's A.I and now they could hear each other.

"_What? How did you do that so fast? Not even I can hack into programs as fast as that." _

"You underestimate me, S.A.R.M.C.E.A.I."

**And me, A.I unit S.A.R.M.C.E.A.I, A.I unit to Tesla, former experimental subject of Dr., diseased. **

The A.I's apprehension must have roused Tesla because he bared his teeth at Taze.

"If you hurt her…" he snarled. Taze laughed at the android dragon and said, "Nonsense, I didn't hurt her, I can just hear her is all. If I was to hack into you're A.I, then it might be vexing for her." Suddenly Tesla roared and threw off his cloak. On his shoulder was a plasma cannon of some sort on his shoulder, there was a 'U' shaped track which Taze guessed was for manoeuvring the cannon from his left shoulder to his right. His scales were an electric yellow and his underbelly was blue. Any further detail was obscured by the metal plates that covered most of his body; his lower half and most of his left side. His wings were bigger than Taze's and were made of metal, making Taze fairly curious as to just how he managed to fly without any gravity repulsion technology. Tesla's tail was entirely metallic and segmented like a centipede's body for movement while his tail blade was a cylindrical shaped cannon and with two spikes on either side, Taze could detect a hidden weapon there due to a slight electronic charge. Most of Tesla's left foreleg was organic. Tesla lacked any true horns but a pair of curved knives replaced them.

_"No one hurts Sam!" _Tesla roared before lashing out at Taze. Taze barely dodged as a blade of liquid metal formed around Tesla's paw.

"Run," He snarled at the others. "I'll try and calm him down, with violence if need be." Taze was grabbed by Tesla and thrown through a wall. "Why you little…" Tesla stalked out with a grin.

"Slice his throat with a rusty cleaver, slice his throat with a rusty cleaver…" he said in a singsong voice, wearing that grin on his face which was just beginning to get on Taze's nerves. Taze grabbed his rod out of his wing joint and it extended into a warscythe. He tested the magnetic clamps hidden in his paws and smoothly stepped into an attack position. Tesla charged, swinging his paw cleaver in an attempt to decapitate the Necrodermis dragon. Taze parried and smashed the butt of the weapon against Tesla's face. "Ha! That tickled!" he laughed crazily, despite the fact that the blow sent him reeling.

"You won't be saying that after I rip your head off." snarled Taze. He spun around and tried to hack Tesla in two but the android leaped away from the blow and lunged while Taze was off balanced. Taze moulded his warscythe into voidblades and smoothly parried Tesla's attack now that his weapons were lighter. Spikes extended out of Tesla's neck and back and he formed another blade. They charged at each other and Taze realized that Tesla was somehow predicting his attacks. _'His A.I no doubt,' _He heard Sam's chuckling and attacked again. _'I need a jammy necron trick quickly Szaras!' _Szaras found a solution and Taze saw it in his retinal display.

**Use of Chronomancy is required. **

Suddenly an odd symbol flashed in front of Taze's eyes and he activated his Chronometron. The world slowed down, Tesla seemed to be moving at a slug's pace and through it all Taze was moving perfectly normally. "Well that deals with my speed problem." he said in a deadpan voice. He sidestepped Tesla's attack and struck his non-metallic side. Taze switched off his Chronometron and watched the results; Tesla staggered forward and slowly noticed the gaping wound in his side.

"Where did you come from?" he asked the wound. Taze cleared his throat and raised his voidblade which was now covered in blood. Tesla looked up and suddenly spat a series of lightning bolts at Tesla as well as firing his shoulder mounted plasma cannon. Taze activated his Chronometron long enough for him to dodge the ranged attack; he didn't want to waste power on theatrics. He fired his own tesla beam at the android. It struck Tesla and he grunted in pain. He fired a massive ball of metal at Taze and this time he didn't dodge, resulting in the ball blasting through his body and shearing off a wing. It slowly dissolved while Taze fired a particle blast at Tesla in an attempt to keep him at bay. Tesla was barely slowed by the antimatter and struck at Taze's shoulder, only for the Necrodermis dragon to disappear in a flash of green light and reappear behind him.

"_But that's not physically possible!" _

**To your pathetic technological grasp it isn't, but the nercons have access to technology that would make Dr cut his own and off to possess. **

"I'm not moving fast, I'm slowing down time, your calculations are useless against me Sam. You might as well stop your little attack dog there." He pointed at Tesla who was still grinning like a maniac. Suddenly a massive scream split the small silence of the evening. A small ice dragoness ran past Taze and Tesla, seemingly unaware of their differences.

"Grublins, a big horde of grublins, run!" She was about to draw breath for another scream when she finally noticed the two dragons. "I'm going mad…" she said as she walked away.

"I'm already mad," yipped Tesla as the dragoness staggered away. "It's fun!"

"I highly doubt that." said Taze, briefly remembering that odd hallucination at the grublin camp. He hadn't seen anything since but it still bothered him. _'Szaras, was I the only Necrodermis test subject?' _

**Negative. Flama was also a test subject, female, relative of Terrene, daughter of Terrador, Guardian of psycho-kinetic energy designated 'Earth element'. **

Taze jumped; Terrene had a sister?

**Affirmative, disappearance occurred six Avalarian years prior. Terrene and Flama, identical twins. **

"Oh no…" Suddenly Tesla's shrieking, joy filled voice echoed in his ears, "Grublins, let's play hide and slay!" Taze silently moved into position beside Tesla, their momentary dispute forgotten, as a massive horde of grublins swept towards them, his only thoughts being, _'How can I explain this to Terrene?'_

**How indeed? Oh god! I'm an idiot! I forgot to mention that Tesla isn't mine, he belongs to HKGhost! Not me!  
**


End file.
